Stay With Me
by ValidateMyPride
Summary: In which Stiles is a single father and Cora inadvertently becomes a huge part of his and baby Leia's life.


Stiles had never planned on being a father before the age of 25.

Honestly, it was just something that just happened. He blames himself, a lot. He was the one that went to a party when he was on a break with Lydia. He was the one who met whom he thought was a nice person. He was the one who dated her for a couple of weeks and obviously hooked up with her. But he never expected this. To be 21 and holding a baby in his hands.

His daughter was tiny and light in his hands. She weighed in at just about 5 pounds and her nose scrunched up when she started crying. She was beautiful, she was his. Penelope, to her credit was a nice enough girl but she wasn't ready to be a mother, Stiles knew that so wasn't surprised when she said told him and if he wasn't ready to be a father then she was going to give the baby up for adoption. After a lot of thinking and a long talk that involved a lot of yelling from his father and Melissa in the background shaking her head he decides he's going to keep the baby. He wanted to keep her and raise her. He and Lydia decide not too long after he decides to keep the baby that being together isn't right for them. They were better off as friends. So they fall back into their pattern as best friends.

Stiles spends weeks and weeks reading baby books and buying formula, diapers, anything and everything he could possibly need for his baby. He finds an apartment in a good area and when he finds out he's having a girl, he sits in the vacant room that he's going to turn into a nursery and lets himself shed a few tears. A few for his mother who wasn't there to see her granddaughter, a few for himself because he had no idea how to raise a child and a few out of happiness because he was going to do this. He already promised himself, promised his child that he was going to be the best and do the best that he could. He was going to make them a family even if it was just the two of them.

He was going to be a good dad, he was going to make sure of that.

It takes him forever to actually pick a name after the baby is born.

He's pacing around the room, staring at the list he made as his father sits on the hospital bed and holds his granddaughter, cradling her the way Stiles is sure that he cradled him when he was first born. Melissa is sitting next to John running her finger over the baby's tiny hand and Stiles is thankful that if Claudia can't be here, Melissa is. He's thankful that his daughter would have a grandmother of some sort.

"Stiles," Isaac speaks up from his chair in the corner of the room. "Could you pick a name already? We can't just go around calling her it for the rest of her life."

"What is the point of you?" Stiles sighs as he leans against the wall near the window. "You are the most irritating person I have ever met." He mumbles, letting his eyes roll down the list.

_Maya  
Jordan  
Jennifer  
Paisley  
Wren  
Presley  
Nina  
Emerson  
_

His eyes stop on the last name and he looks up to take a look at his daughter once again. He makes his way over to his father and gently takes her out of his hands, holding her up to his own chest and smiling. She looks like his mother to him, the same face shape, the same everything.

"Welcome to the world, Leia." Stiles says quietly, his lips brushing the tip if his daughters nose.

"No you didn't, Stiles." Isaac groans. "You didn't name your daughter Leia. Like the princess."

"Shut up," Allison hushes harshly slapping him on the shoulder. "It's a beautiful name." She says turning back to Stiles.

Stiles hears Scott before he actually sees him. "I missed it." Scott breathes out when he walks in the room. Stiles had told him not to come. It was too close to finals. He wanted Scott to stay in Oregon but he came anyway. Stiles smiled and hands him the baby, shaking his head.

"I named her Leia." Stiles says as Melissa comes up from behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder. Scott nods and let's Leia grab at his finger as she closes her eyes.

"She looks like your mom." Scott says with a nod.

A silence falls on the room and Stiles thinks to himself how he wants nothing more than for his mom to be here. For her to be able to hold her granddaughter and it _hurts. _It hurts to think about. It hurts everyone in the room, he can tell. But Stiles is thankful that Melissa is there because she's his second mom. She helped raise him.

"Why did you pick the name Leia?" Kira asks after a few minutes of silence when Leia is back in her fathers arms and Stiles is beaming down at her as she sleeps.

"Well, besides the fact that I love Star Wars," Stiles starts out kissing Leia on the forehead. "It was the meaning, I guess. In English, Leia means Meadow. But in Hawaiian it means child of heaven and heavenly flowers." Stiles looks up from his daughters face and looks around the room at his family, his friends and he shrugs, embarrassed. "Child of heaven." He repeats. "Like a gift from my mom."

They all fall into a comfortable silence now as Stiles rocks back and forth slowly. "Leia Claudia Stilinski." Isaac says as he stands up, passing around tiny plastic cups full of sparkling cider. "Welcome to the world. Cheers."

They all touch glasses and Stiles thinks to himself how he's not sure about a lot of things. How he was going to pull all of this off, how in the _hell _he was supposed to pull all of this off but one thing he's sure of is that his daughter is going to be loved. Not only by him but by the people around them. This is their family. Where they belong.

* * *

Stiles notices her the day she moves in.

The new neighbor that is. It's a Saturday, bright and sunny. He takes Leia for a walk in the morning and when he gets home there's a moving truck outside of the apartment building. He thinks he recognizes the two men that are lifting a couch out of the van. He can place the first mans angry and grumpy look almost instantly. Hale, he remembered someone telling him once. He couldn't remember the first name but the last name was definitely the other man he could almost swear he saw him around with the blonde girl from his Psychology class, Erica. He would have offered to help if the 4 week old in the stroller was not getting increasingly pissed off. Stiles wheels the stroller into the lobby, pressing the button to the elevator and leans down pull some of the blankets away from Leia's body. "Shh." He soothes, surprised when she looks up at him and her cries stop as she focuses solely on her fathers voice. Stiles pushes the stroller into the elevator, his head still ducked down, talking to the baby when he feels it roll over something.

"Ow!"

Stiles looks up with wide eyes and he's met with the most beautiful pair of eyes he has ever seen. Deep and brown, Stiles felt like he was staring into her soul by just one glance. "I am so sorry." Stiles apologizes quickly. "That's my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going-"

"It's okay." The tiny girl in front of him says, cutting him off mid sentence. "No problem." She breathes out. "Really. Um, it's not broken or anything."

"Right," Stiles chuckles then looks back out to where the moving truck is. "Are you moving in?" He asks jabbing a thumb to point outside as he moves the stroller back and forth out of habit even though the little girl in it was still focused on her fathers voice.

"Oh yeah," She said with a laugh of her own. "5C."

Stiles smiled and nodded. "Come visit sometime. We live in 8C. I'm Stiles and this Leia." Stiles said pointing his finger down to the tiny baby who surrounded by blankets. Leila blinked her eyes once before opening her mouth to let out a yawn. Stiles watched as she followed his hand and made eye contact with the baby. She smiled and waved to her before turning back to Stiles.

"Cora." She said then looked out of the elevator that was being held open by her hand. "I should go. Those idiots can't do anything without me." She said with a nod. "Nice meeting you." She smiled at him again before running out of the elevator. "Seriously? Come on, we don't have all year to get this couch upstairs!" He heard her say to the two boys before the elevator door closed. Stiles leaned back against the elevator wall, swaying the stroller back and forth.

"She's pretty." He said to no one in particular, only to be answered by a coo out of his daughter. He laughed and looked down at her, staring into the bright blue eyes that were staring back at him. It was weird, he thought. How Leia could look so much like him and his mother yet have his fathers eyes. The baby cooed again, lifting up her hand slightly. "See, you think so too. She's pretty."

Stiles sighs when the elevator stops on their floor, he pushes Leia to their door and unlocks it, pushing them inside and taking her out of the stroller, throwing a burp cloth over his shoulder and making his way over to the fridge. "But," He said taking out a bottle and putting into the microwave. "I promised no girls. You're the only girl in my life." He said down to the baby who seemed to be more interested in where her food was now as tiny cries came from her. He took the bottle out of the microwave and gave it to her, sitting down to feed her.

"I really have to stop thinking you're going to answer me. I sound like a crazy person."

* * *

Stiles doesn't see Cora again for another 3 weeks.

No one usually visits Stiles without calling first so he's surprised when he hears a knock on his door on a Thursday evening. He puts his tattered up copy of To Kill A Mockingbird on his coffee table, taking a peek over to see that Leia was still sleeping as the pink and white swing rocked back and forth slowly. He walked over to the door and opened it slowly, surprised to see the dark haired girl he met weeks ago on the other side.

He could tell she didn't have any makeup on and he figured when he met her the first time she had contacts in because there were now a pair of glasses perched on her face. She was beautiful, he thought to himself. She was simple.

"Hey!" She greeted sticking her hands into the pockets of her grey sweats. She had dimples along with the doe eyes that he could imagine himself getting lost in for hours at a time. Stiles looked back up into her eyes and smiled. "I'm Cora." She said before he could open his mouth to say anything back to her. "I wasn't sure if you would remember. We met in elevator a few weeks ago when I was moving in."

"Yeah," Stiles chuckles, moving aside for her to walk in. "Come in."

Cora smiled and walked into the apartment, looking around. He figured she was looking for Leia who she spotted almost immediately. Cora turned to him and smiled, removing her hands from her pockets. "You told me to come visit and I literally just got a free minute."

"No problem." Stiles says, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck, a habit that he's had since he was a little boy. A nervous habit. Why was he nervous? He didn't even know this girl. Not yet, anyway. "Can I get you anything? Water? Coffee? I think I might have some milk too."

"For the baby, right?"

"Oh no. Leia drinks soy formula the milk based one messes with her stomach. Doctors said acid reflux." He explained with a nod making the girl in front of him laugh. He liked her laugh it was like a million angels singing.

"So she's yours?" Cora asked walking over to the swing. There was a comfortable silence between the two of them as they gazed down at her, the only sound of her sucking on her pacifier filling up the room.

"Yeah." Stiles confirmed then cleared his throat. "Uh it's a long story."

"Maybe you'll tell it to me someday?" Cora asked, her smile brightening up the room. Stiles blinked and nodded. It was a rare occasion that girls were actually interested in him. Mostly they would come to up him to ask him who his friend was. He always said the thing with Penelope, that was just some kind of good luck and with Lydia, they had just been friends for so long that it felt natural to them to start dating. But this was new. A pretty girl flirting with him, no one else around for her to be interested in, just them. She laughed, leaning down to fix Leia's blanket. "I admire what you're doing." She tells him, tilting her head up slightly to look at him through her lashes. "My dad left when I was a little kid. Said he couldn't handle 3 kids, so what you're doing? It's pretty amazing."

Stiles smiles and kneels down next to her so that they're face to face. "I made a promise to her." He said quietly. She turned her face to him fully then and Stiles can't help but stare at her lips especially when they curve into a smile. "That I would never leave her alone. And I won't."

Cora nods and leans her head back to look over his apartment. "You're a good one, Stiles. The world needs more people like you."

He doesn't mind the smile that's playing on his face or the warm fuzzy feeling she gives him when she smiles. He actually kind of likes it.

He kind of likes her.

* * *

Stiles never thought it would be possible to better friends with anyone than he was with Scott. He and Scott were brothers, they grew up together. If it wasn't for Scott, Stiles wouldn't have had the courage to join little league when he was 10 or join the lacrosse team in high school. Hell, without Scott, Stiles probably would have never even _survived _high school.

But his budding friendship with Cora? This one might be a little bit better and it has nothing to do with the fact that Cora is easily the most beautiful girl he has ever laid eyes on.

Okay, so it had a _little _something to do with it.

But mostly, it's her personality. Stiles knows that he's loud and sometimes a little hyperactive and outgoing. His father always said that his son could make friends anywhere. But Cora, she's the opposite of him and he _likes _that. He likes the balance she provides.

She's quiet, always thinking to herself and she's calm. She always thinks out her moves throughly before she acts on them, she never does things on a whim. Not like him.

Not like him at all, actually because Stiles never has a problem showing emotion of any kind but Cora? She's a very closed off person. She probably got hurt somewhere along the way, he figures and he doesn't want to push her to talk about it because he figures that's just going to push her away and he doesn't want that. He wants her to keep coming around like she does now.

He wants her to be able to trust him and he thinks that she does.

* * *

His thoughts are confirmed the night she comes knocking at his door. It's a Wednesday night, it had been raining all day into the night. Stiles always like the rain, it made him think of a new beginning.

John and Melissa had Leia for the night and for the first time in the two and a half months that Leia had been home, Stiles was alone. He knows that other men his age are out partying, in a club, trying to hook up with chicks. But Stiles was just trying to her a head on his and Leia's laundry.

Stiles is folding his second basket or laundry, wondering how in the hell his daughter went through so many onsies in one day and then he inwardly groans thinking of how much laundry he's going to have to do once she gets older. He throws a pink onsie that reads _daddy's little princess _on it into the clean laundry pile when he hears a knock on the door. The knock is soft and Stiles almost doesn't hear it at first. When he does realize that someone's knocking on his door, he's confused to who it could be because when he asked all his friends what they were doing earlier, they all gave him a few different things they were doing. Scott and Kira were going out to dinner and then a movie, Lydia was meeting up with her new boyfriend and he wasn't exactly sure what Allison and Isaac were doing. All he got out of Isaac was that they were busy. So, he's not exactly sure who he's going to find on the other side of the door.

"Hey," Stiles greets when he opens the door. Cora's standing there and she looks angry and sad and tired. Stiles has to resist the urge to pull her inside, wrap his arms around her and tell her everything, no matter what was happening was going to be okay. But he holds himself back. "Are you okay?"

She flies past him into the living room. Her hands are tugging at her hair as she paces back and forth. "My brother! He takes his girlfriend to go see my mom for her birthday and does he think of asking me?!" Her face changes then from anger to sadness as she drops her hands to her sides and stares at him. He's staring back at her wide eyes because in the time that he's known Cora, she's never shown this much emotion. He watches as she bites down on her bottom lip as tears fill her eyes and just like that, she was on her knees with her hand clamped over her mouth trying to drown out the sounds that she's making. Stiles doesn't hesitate to walk over to where she was and lean down next to her. He wraps his arms around her and let's his hand roam down her back, letting it rest on her lower back and pulling her closer to him.

"Hey, it's okay." He says quietly into her hair. "You're okay. I've got you, okay?"

She nods the best she can against him, putting her face into his neck and just letting herself cry. They stay like that for a while, with him rubbing her back and speaking softly into her ear. "I miss her." She finally says to him, pulling back from him slightly to look up at him. "She died when I was 11. In a house fire."

Stiles nods and pushes some hair away from her face because he gets it. He gets what it's like to miss someone so desperately, he gets what it's like to hurt. He understands how it feels to have a dream about that person, for a moment to think that they're here and everything's okay and then wake up to realize it was a joke. A cruel joke.

"So your brother went to your moms grave without you?" He questions, leaning back against the couch, his arms still wrapped tightly around her. She nods, placing her head on his chest and letting her arms wrap loosely around his waist.

"He said something about me not caring about whatever family I have left and we just got into a huge fight." She shrugs. Stiles nods against her head, leaning down to brush his lips against the top of her head.

"Forget him. People say things when they're angry," He says thinking back to the many times he and Scott would fight and the two of them would say awful things to each other. "Things they don't mean. It's going to be okay."

Cora nods again, trying to scoot herself closer to him and Stiles thinks to himself that it's not possible for her to get any closer but somehow she manages to do so.

They sit in silence and to him it's scary how natural this all feels. How natural she feels to him but he likes it. He likes her.

So much for that no girls rule he had made up.

* * *

Cora is beyond amazing when it comes to Leia. After the night that Cora came to his door, she starts coming around more. Twice, sometimes three times in a day and every time she does come over, she goes right over to where the baby is, sometimes ignoring him all together.

"Hey!" She says one night when she walks into his apartment carrying a tiny stuffed fish in her hand. Stiles looks back from where he's stationed at the stove, stirring marinara sauce.

"Hey, you didn't tell me you were stopping by." He said wiping his hands off on a towel before throwing it over his shoulder. He covered the pot before leaning over the counter to watch her as she walked over to where Leia was in her bouncer seat. She leaned down and smiled at her.

"Hi princess." Cora cooed, lifting her out of the seat and holding Leia close to her chest. She looked back at Stiles and raised an eyebrow. "What? Got a hot date or something?"

He could hear the tang of jealousy in her voice, like she didn't want to think about him going on a date with a woman or think about him being with another woman.

Stiles snorted as Cora sat down on the couch with Leia, grabbing Leia's hands in her own, propping the baby up so she was leaning back against her knees and making faces at her.

"Nope," Stiles answers, walking around the counter and making his way over to the couch to watch them better. "Just me and my hand."

"Probably better off that way." Cora says, sticking her tongue out at the three month old on her lap. "Don't want accidentally impregenate someone else." She said then leaned her head back to laugh at him. He glared at her jokingly before flicking her on the side of the head and walking into kitchen. Cora huffed and turned her attention back to the baby. "I got you something, princess." Cora cooed down to Leia who have her a toothless smile and kicked her legs excitedly. Cora lifted the tiny stuffed fish and made a fish face at her.

Stiles smiled from his spot in the kitchen where he was draining the pasta into the sink. "So, I was thinking about taking Leia to the beach this weekend." He called out to Cora has he tossed the pasta in the sauce. "You should come."

"You asking me out on a date?" Cora asked as she got up to walk over to him, balancing Leia on her hip. Stiles' cheeks flushed pink, turning his head slightly to look at her.

"Only if you want it to be." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "It doesn't have to be though," He squeezed his eyes shut trying to think of how to get himsel out of this awkward situation he pulled himself in. "We could just go as friends. Ice cream and swimming." He said then cleared his throat. Cora smirked at him for a moment, pulling Leia up so the little girl could nuzzle her head into Cora's neck.

"I would love to go on a date with you, Stilinski." Cora said with a smile before walking back into the living room with Leia who locked eyes with Stiles, giving him a toothless smile on her way out.

_She said yes_, he thought to himself.

Thank god.

* * *

They don't stay at the beach long that day. It's too hot, warmer than he had expected so he suggests going to his fathers house to swim instead. It was almost Leia's naptime anyway and he knew that Melissa and his father would love to see her.

"Already want me to meet the family?" Cora asks him when they pull up to John and Melissa's house. She gets out an watches as Stiles goes into the trunk to pull out Leia's diaper bag as Cora takes Leia out of the car. "You must really like me."

Stiles snorts and walks into the house calling out for his father and stepmother, smiling when they came to the door and greeted him with hugs.

"You didn't tell us you were stopping over!" Melissa tells him with a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Stiles apologizes sheepishly. "I took Leia to the beach and it was too hot to keep her out there so I figured I'd take her over here. Put her in the kiddy pool for a little bit then out her down for a nap." Stiles turns back to grab Leia's car seat out of Cora's hand. "This is Cora. She's my neighbor. We're uh,"

"We're on a date." Cora finishes for him. "But Stiles sucks at planning, apparently."

"I resent that statement." Stiles says to her, giving her a pout as he took Leia out of her car seat. Cora laughs, leaning over to kiss Leia on the head, running her finger over her hairline.

Stiles can see the way Melissa is smiling at them, like she knows something he doesn't. It's kind of freaking him out, actually.

"Alright, give me my granddaughter." John finally says taking the baby from Stiles' arms and kissing her on the head. "Papa missed you. Look, Nana and Papa got you toys." He said taking her into the living room, Melissa trailing behind him, leaving the two alone.

"Sorry, this whole date went to shit." He said leading her into the kitchen and handing her a bottle of water. Cora gives him a look as she takes the water bottle from Stiles' hand.

"I've had worse."

"Doubt it." Stiles snorted.

"No, really. I have. One guy thought a strip club would be a great first date." She tells him, leaning herself back against the marble counter. "I like being with you and Leia. No matter what we do." She admitted.

Stiles nods and pulls her into a hug, his chin resting on the top of her head. He feels her smile against his skin and wrap her arms loosely around his waist. He hums contently, brushing his lips against her head. He feels content for the first time in a long time an for the first time, he feels like maybe, just maybe, he could have a future with this girl.

He likes that feeling.

* * *

Their first 'I love you' isn't conventional. Stiles always imagined he would take Cora to dinner and as the sun was setting in the background, he would tell her as he held her hand. But that's not how it works out at all.

"I know you're still in love with her!" Cora accuses him as she storms away from him. They were out with Lydia and her boyfriend and Scott and Kira and Scott let it slip that Lydia and Stiles used to date. This of course being after Cora came home a few days before and saw Stiles helping Lydia wipe coffee off her blouse, which wouldn't have been a big deal if his hand wasn't slightly under her shirt as he did so. He knew then, he was in some deep shit.

"Cora, come on! If I was still in love with her I wouldn't be with you!" He argued, gaining attention from people who were passing by. He winced when she stops and turns back to him. Her face is beet red and her fists are clutching at her side.

"Are you wasting my time?" She breathes out harshly. "Did I waste 5 months on this? On you?!"

"No! Cora, you do this all the time!" He said throwing his hands up. "You push me away, I don't get it!"

Cora shakes her head and turns on her heel to start walking away again, only to stop and turn towards him. "I don't want to lose you! So I push you away so you'll just leave! I can't lose you, I can't lose Leia!"

He gets it then. Because sometimes he feels the same way. He had lost so much too but she was so scared to lose him and not only him but lose his daughter. "I'm not going to leave you." He says to her, walking over to her. There were people staring at them, he knew that but he didn't care. He had to let her know that. "Cora, hey," he crooked his finger under her chin and lifted her face up to face him. "I'm not going to leave you. I love you." He leans his forehead against hers and smiled slightly when she leans into his touch. "I love you."

"You do?" She breathed out wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yeah," he said leaning down to peck at her lips.

"I love you too." She said pulling him close to her. "And I love Leia. I feel safe with you guys."

Stiles laughed and brushed his nose against hers, kissing her again. "One day, I'm going to marry you." He promises her making her let out a teary laugh. "No, I'm serious. One day."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

* * *

"Your brother hates me." Stiles tells her the following Thanksgiving. John had insisted the Hale's come over so they could all spend the holliday together. Derek brings Paige with him and Laura brings her boyfriend, Mark. (Stiles and Cora made match maker on that one. Point one for them)

"No, he doesn't." Cora says peering over Stiles' shoulder to keep an eye on 2 year old Leia. "And even if he does, I don't care. I love you." She tells him, kissing him lightly as they carry the dirty plates into the kitchen. "He likes your dad and Leia and Melissa-"

"Everyone but me. That's wonderful, Cora." He mumbled as he started to put dishes into the dishwasher.

"He doesn't want to see me grow up. That's all."

"We've been together for a over a year." Stiles groans, leaning his head back. "When is he going to stop giving me dirty looks?"

"Probably never." Paige says as she walks into the kitchen. She smiles at Stiles as she sets he wine glass down. "But don't worry about it. It's just the Hale way."

Stiles nods and looks over at a Cora who kisses him happily on the cheek. "I'm going to go spend time with my princess." She says then walks into the living room. Stiles turns back to finish putting the dishes in the dishwasher.

"I heard you think I don't like you."

Stiles jumps out of his skin when he hears the voice from behind him. He turns to face Derek and he legs out a deep breath. "Even if you don't it doesn't change anything. And I want to put that aside just for a second." He said breathing in through his nose. "I want to ask Cora to marry me and I want your blessing."

Derek is still for a few moment and Stiles is almost sure he's going to kill him. He's going to die, he's sure of it.

"I don't hate you." He finally says. He meets Derek's eyes and he nods. "I like you. But, it's like, I don't want her to grow up. She's my baby sister." He explains. "It she agrees to marry you, I give you my blessing."

Stiles nods with a smile and goes to shake his hand. "Thank you."

Derek nods and gives him the tiniest smile. "Hurt her and I'll kill you and make it look like an accident."

He saw that coming.

* * *

He keeps his promise to her when he said he was going to marry her. They get married on a cold day in December a couple of years after Stiles asked for her hand in marriage. It's perfect, Stiles thinks to himself as he watches her dance with Leia at the reception.

When they come back over to sit next to him, Leia climbs on his lap and kisses him on the cheek. "I love you, daddy." She says to him before curling up on his lap.

"What about me?" Cora asks leaning over to kiss Leia on the nose. "Do you love your momma?"

"Yeah," the four year old answers as she yawns. "I love you both."

Stiles laughs and grabs Cora's hand, making her look over at him.

"I'm glad you ran over my foot that day."

Stiles laughs and leans over to kiss her. "You should thank Leia for that one."

"I do," Cora tells him. "Everyday."

Stiles looks around the room and takes it all in. The dancing people, the music, his new wife and his daughter sitting with him.

They finally found where they're supposed to be. This is what life is supposed to be like.

They finally found a family.


End file.
